Hewitt/Lyons/Suchocki/Yeh,Conceptual Integrated Science
Chapter 1 ABOUT SCIENCE
This lecture will help you understand:
•A
Brief History of Advances in Science
•Mathematics
and Conceptual Integrated Science
•The
Scientific Method—A Classic Tool
•The
Scientific Hypothesis
•The
Scientific Experiment
•Facts,
Theories, and Laws
•Science
Has Limitations
•Science,
Art, and Religion
•Technology—The
Practical Use of Science
•The
Natural Sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, and Astronomy
•Integrated Science
•
A Brief History of Advances in Science
The beginnings of science go back thousands of years to a
cause-and-effect way of looking at the world. Early science was
based on uncritical human observation.
Forward steps in the history of science, as highlighted in
the text, occurred in
•Greece,
Italy, China, Polynesia, Arab Nations, Poland, Germany, and in many other parts
of the world.
During the Dark Ages in
religion became established. During
the 10th through 12th centuries,
Islamic people brought books into
universities emerged
During the 15th century,
•invention
of Gutenberg’s printing press, experiments of Galileo
•arrival
of Renaissance period that provided a foothold to the advance of science and
rational thinking
Mathematics and Conceptual Integrated Science
Mathematics Is an important tool in
science
•equations
are shorthand notation for the relationships between scientific concepts and abbreviates
a relationship that can be stated in words
•makes
common sense
•equations
can guide your thinking
Mathematics and Conceptual Integrated Science
Example:
Concept—When you stretch a spring,
your pull is proportional to the stretch.
Proportion—expressed
as F ~ ´,
where F is your pulling force, and
x is the distance the spring stretches
Proportions and equations tell you:
If one thing
changes a certain way, another will change correspondingly.
The Scientific Method—A Classic Tool
Scientific Method
•as
outlined in section 1.3—NOT to be memorized
•one
of the ways good science is performed
More important than a particular method is
•attitude
of inquiry
•experimentation
•willingness
to accept findings, even those not desired
The Scientific Hypothesis
Principle of falsifiability
For a
hypothesis to be considered scientific, it must be
testable—it must, in principle, be capable of being proved wrong.
Which of these is a scientific hypothesis?
The Moon is made of green cheese.
•Atomic
nuclei are the smallest particles in nature.
•A
magnet will pick up a copper penny.
•Cosmic
rays cannot penetrate the thickness of your Conceptual Integrated
Science textbook.
Explanation:
All are
scientific hypotheses! All choices not only have tests for proving wrongness,
but they have been proved wrong. Nevertheless, they
still pass the test of being a scientific hypothesis.
Which of these is not a scientific hypothesis?
Protons carry an electric charge.
•Undetectable
particles are some of nature’s secrets.
•Charged
particles will bend when moving in a magnetic field.
•All
of the above are scientific hypotheses.
Explanation:
If protons
didn’t carry electric charge, they wouldn’t be deflected
when crossing a magnetic field. This would be a test for showing the hypothesis
wrong. So both A and C are capable of being proved wrong, which
makes them scientific. Statement B, however, has no test for wrongness.
It is reasonable speculation—but not a scientific hypothesis.
The Scientific Experiment
Rather than philosophize about nature, Galileo went an
important step further—he experimented!
“The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the
sole judge of scientific truth.” Richard
Feynman
“No number of experiments can prove me right; a single
experiment can prove me wrong.” Albert
Einstein
Facts, Theories, and Laws
Fact
a phenomenon about which competent observers can agree
Theory
a synthesis of a large body of information that encompasses
well-tested hypotheses about certain aspects of the natural world
Law
a general
hypothesis or statement about the relationship of natural quantities that has
been tested over and over again and has not been contradicted—also known as a principle
Which of these often changes over time with further study?
Facts.
•Theories.
•Both
of the above.
•Neither
of the above.
Both can change. Is this a weakness or strength of science?
For example, if everything a child holds true is unchanged when that child
grows up, with years of study, even receiving advanced degrees, then either
nothing was learned or the child was unusually gifted from the start—or was
part of a closed system. As we learn new information, we refine our ideas. Likewise with the fields of science.
A person who says, “that’s only a
theory” likely doesn’t know that a scientific theory is a
guess.
•number of facts.
•hypothesis of sorts.
•vast synthesis of well-tested hypotheses and facts.
A person who says, “that’s only a
theory” likely doesn’t know that a scientific theory is a
Explanation:
Theory in
everyday speech is vastly different than its use in
science. A vast and verifiable body of knowledge isn’t only a theory; if
it passes all its tests, it is elevated to that status! Newton’s theory
of gravity, and Einstein’s theory of relativity, for example, are not idle hypotheses—both are supported by innumerable
experiments. They are more than only theories.
Science Has Limitations
Domain of science is in natural phenomena; does not deal
with the “supernatural,” a domain “above science”
Claims to supernatural phenomenon, true or otherwise, lie
outside the domain of science.
A major difference between pseudoscience and science is that
pseudoscience
makes
no predictions.
•doesn’t use scientific terminology.
•has no tests for wrongness.
•all of the above.
Explanation:
Some forms of
pseudoscience, often called “junk science,” do make predictions, and many use
scientific terminology to pose as science (magnetic healing, energy-producing
machines that require no fuel, and so forth). Only science has tests for
wrongness.
Science, Art, and Religion
Science asks how
Religion asks why
Art bridges the two
When science and religion address their respective domains,
conflict between the two is minimized or absent.
Between a pilot and a priest, who should fly a commercial
jet airplane? Who should perform a marriage? (Although the questions are
no-brainers, they have a point.)
A. The pilot
should fly the plane and the priest conduct a
marriage.
•The
priest should fly the plane and the pilot conduct a marriage.
•The
pilot should conduct both.
•The
priest should conduct both.
Explanation:
The point of
the questions is that the pilot and priest have nurtured different skills for
different tasks, and each can do their thing well. Okay, one could argue that a
pilot could adequately do both. But it would be a stretch to say a priest could
do both, unless the priest was also a pilot.
Technology—The Practical Use of
Science
Technology
•an
important tool of science
•sometimes
the fruit of science, as in medicine that cures disease
•a
human endeavor
•can
be used to elevate or to diminish the human condition
Shouldn’t its potential be to elevate?
The Natural Sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth
Science, and Astronomy
Natural philosophy
•was
at one time the study of unanswered questions about nature
•became
science as answers were found
The Natural Sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth
Science, and Astronomy
•Physics
is the study of basic concepts such as motion, force, energy, matter, heat,
sound, light, electricity, and magnetism.
•Chemistry
builds on physics and studies how matter is put together to produce the growing
list of materials and medicines we use in our everyday lives.
•Biology,
built on chemistry, is the study of life—the most complex of the sciences.
•Earth
science is the study of geology, meteorology, and oceanography.
•Astronomy
is the study of nature beyond the confines of Planet Earth‚ the far-out
science.
Integrated Science
Integrated Science—fields of science
•overlap
•merge
into one another, such as biophysics, biochemistry, geophysics, astrophysics, bioastrophysics
•acknowledged
to present a cohesive study of the natural world
Although physics may be the most difficult science course in
certain schools, when compared with the fields of chemistry, biology, Earth
science, and astronomy, it is
the
simplest.
•still the hardest!
•the central science, in between chemistry and biology.
•simple enough, but only for especially intelligent people.
Explanation:
Just compare
the list of terms in the physics chapters of this book with the lists in
chapters beyond physics chapters. Which lists are shortest? Chemistry and
especially biology are enormously more complex than physics. Physics is much
more understood than the
other fields—which is why this book begins with physics—a simpler subject